Britain is the best country in the world to be black in, Kemi Badenoch told the Tory party conference on Monday, as she blasted Labour over its divisive stance on race and trans issues. The Mail has more.
The Business Secretary used a tub-thumping speech to blast Labour over its “woke” views and for using Brexit to repeatedly talk down Britain.
She lashed out over trans rights, Remainer defeatism and the pace of reaching green targets.
Mrs Badenoch rejected the “narrative of hopelessness” for ethnic minorities that suggests “British society is against you and you’re better off asking for reparations”.
She said the Tories were in line with civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King because they believe “people should be judged by the content of their character, not the colour of their skin”.
Seen as one of the frontrunners to replace Rishi Sunak if the Tories lose the next election, Mrs Badenoch told grassroots activists in Manchester: “The Left accuses us of a culture war.
“But we will not apologise for fighting for common sense. I will not apologise for fighting for a society that knows what a woman is.
“It was this Conservative Government that stopped shameful SNP and Labour politicians in Scotland pursuing a self-ID policy that let convicted rapists pretend that they were actually women so they could be housed in a women’s prison with potential new victims.
“‘Next week, Labour will tell the country that it is ready for Government. But let me ask you this: if Labour MPs can’t tell us what a woman is, what else aren’t they telling us?”
Badenoch, who is also the Minister for Women and Equalities, hit out at Labour for creating a victimhood narrative around race. She said:
Last year I published a report that told the truth about race in the U.K. Labour didn’t like it. They want young people to believe a narrative of hopelessness. A narrative that says there is no point in trying, because British society is against you and you’re better off asking for reparations.
A narrative that tells children like mine that the odds are stacked against them. I tell my children this is the best country in the world to be black – because it’s a country that sees people, not labels. Conservatives want young people to be proud of their country when others want them to be ashamed.
It wasn’t a tough decision for us to reject the divisive agenda of critical race theory. We believe, as Martin Luther King once said, people should be judged by the content of their character, not the colour of their skin.
If that puts us in conflict with those who would re-racialise society, who would put up the divisions that have been torn down then, conference, all I can say is bring it on.
Let Labour bend the knee before this altar of intolerance, we will keep building a country that is in every way stronger and fairer for all.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Kemi is now the bookmakers’ favourite to become the next Conservative leader, the Telegraph reports, following her conference performance. With odds of 7/2, she leads Penny Mordaunt at 5/1 and Suella Braverman at 9/1, according to odds published by the bookmakers Coral.
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I’d still prefer that the “windrush dividend” had been delivered somewhere else
I see you have already attracted two downticks.
I do not believe I bear any human ill will unless I have reason to believe that have harmed me and my family in some way, but can we honestly say that mass immigration into the UK has been a success, and that we are better off as a result?
Pay your £5 or pipe down
I was one of the down scorers. I pay my £5 but didn’t have time to answer earlier.
It’s definitely not the people who arrived decades ago from the Caribbean that are our primary concern or threat, going by what’s happening all over Europe just now. And while I’m on, I’d just like to bring this petition to everyone’s attention, which I’ve just signed. It’s to get that disgusting statue in Birmingham, celebrating the oppression and abuse of Muslim women all over the world, taken down. It likely won’t have any impact at all and people will take matters into their own hands and trash it themselves, we’ll see, but at least this records people’s opposition to such an insulting and inappropriate eyesore. Look at all the statues that have been torn down already by idiot nutjobs who claim to be offended by British history. This crap isn’t British history nor should it be accepted and normalized as British culture.
”The Labour council in Birmingham has allowed a hideous statue of a woman wearing a hijab to be erected in Birmingham.
This comes at a time when women in Islamic nations, such as Iran, are being executed or imprisoned for taking their hijabs off.
Women in Islamist communities face enormous communal pressure to wear these hijabs, mostly against their will.
The forced wearing of hijabs is a symbol of oppression throughout the world.
For this reason, the extremist statue in Birmingham must be torn down.
We do not oppress women here in our Christian, Western nations.
Britain First has launched an urgent petition to pressure the leader of Birmingham City Council, Cllr John Cotton, to reverse his outrageous decision.”
https://www.britainfirst.org/petition-hijab-statue-birmingham
Their descendants are causing mayhem.
Thanks Mogs
Signed.
All done…Probably on some list now!
The Windrush generation brought some amazing, hard working people to these shores, who raised families, many of whom are now higher paid tax earners and generally great people. I have family members who are such. I do not share your wish.
Of course in every group of people there are those who make a positive contribution to society and those who make a negative contribution – and this includes people born here.
But society and civilisation seem to me to be quite fragile things and rapid changes in a population seem unwise – and such rapid changes were never really desired by the majority of the UK population.
I have no interest in a cultural pissing competition (though I think England is a great place) but leaving aside arguments about which culture is better, the cultures of different countries are different, their people are different – and I believe that differences in culture are down to differences in tendencies that are partly based on race. Introducing large numbers of people different cultures in a short space of time risks disrupting social cohesion, as well as economic well being. I think separate countries and cultures are great, and wish them all success. I wish mine to survive, which it won’t if we continue on the road we’re on.
My comments are general, not specific to the “Windrush generation”. I realise you were commenting specifically about them, so you may feel my points do not apply to your comment, which is fair enough. But I feel they are relevant to the general debate.
Do you feel that mass immigration has been a net positive or a net negative for the UK?
What would you do differently?
How many immigrants are “too many”?
Do you feel it’s important for English culture and English people to survive?
Do you feel that mass immigration has been a net positive or a net negative for the UK?
To me there have been almost equal measure of both. Those who integrate and want to do the best they can here (and the WIndrush generation and their offspring mostly have) bring the positives.
My ex lived in an area where there were many pakistanis. Most (not all of them) were absolutely dreadful and caused massive amounts of social problems and disruption. And the illegals obviously are people who have unfairly jumped the queue. Not to mention some dangerous criminals amongst them.
What would you do differently?
Have an Australian type policy of selection – also depending on what we need (nurses etc). Also as mentioned, they need to be willing to integrate.
How many immigrants are “too many”?
I feel we are at that point – services are already pushed to the limits. And the illegals are taking up way too many resources.
Do you feel it’s important for English culture and English people to survive?
I think it will survive, though may be slightly more blended. That bothers me a lot less than it bothers you I think, but there we are.
Fair enough
I would go along with what you say up to a point
It never used to “bother” me overly until it became obvious that white European civilisation faces an existential threat, sadly of its own making largely and in which many among us are complicit
I think there are many threats out there, especially in the last 3.5 years, so I understand that underlying feeling of something sinister and bad out there. I feel it too, but certainly not from the second generation English black, which include some family and an ex I’m still close friends with. And I live in South East London and was born and raised in Brixton, so there’s that.
I agree with so many of yours and Mogwai’s posts, but we can’t agree on everything, and that’s fine. It’s almost refreshing to be so down ticked this time around – I’m not usually so controversial
Haha, well it wasn’t me that disliked your posts and I find your honesty refreshing. I agree actually, though I’ve never lived anywhere as diverse as yourself. My main concern lies completely with the uncontrolled immigration we’re seeing ( and have for several years now obviously ) from countries where their culture is totally at odds with our own. Certainly not with Windrush descendants. But I think if you’ve seen my posts and stuff I’ve linked to then you get what I’m saying. You probably also know what I’m like when I get on my soap box regarding one particular ideology that I see as incompatible and a threat to Western society, so I’d best leave it at that.
No downvotes from me; not my style.
I agree about the threat – it’s the people who facilitate the immigration that are the threat, not the people doing it (or certainly not the specific group you are talking about who came here legally).
The criminal classes don’t just appear, they are descended from somebody.
True. Representation in terms of arrests and convictions across ethnic groups is very uneven. Racism or a natural reflection of average human behaviour in such groups? Take your pick – neither side of that debate will ever accept the other’s answer – another reason why mass immigration is a bad idea.
Massively negative, to the point where any positives can be safely ignored as outliers.
You sound vaccinated to me
I can assure you I am not. And I attended anti-lockdown marches (not the BLM ones which I thought were nonsensical but at least outlined the hypocrisy of what gatherings were acceptable and which weren’t). Beliefs and opinions don’t always come in linear form.
She should catch up. The Labour leader has since learned what a woman is.
Nothing that he says can be trusted, though.
If he told me it was raining, I’d look out of the window to check.
He shouldn’t ever had had to learn. He should have already known. The man is a snake.
Has he though? I believe he still thinks they can sport a male appendage.
Talk is cheap.
Unfortunately, it’s all we ever get from the ‘conservatives’.
I hope we dont see that five feet high on a Nigerian Billboard…
Lol. I think they already know.
Britain used to be a great place to be white, but it is less so by the day.
I think Tanzanians might disagree with that statement…others too…
Especially since Tanzania didn’t do a lockdown or force jabs on anyone. In fact, I think they banned the jabs if I remember correctly, at least until the president got whacked…I mean, had an unfortunate accident, you see.
Great Substack article about Vivek Ramaswamy
In the riveting spectacle that was the first Republican primary debate on August 23, it was reported that Google searches were ablaze, with countless curious Americans eager to uncover more about the smooth-talking young man who seemed to derive immense pleasure from engaging in verbal sparring with his conservative comrades. Amongst this star-studded lineup of opponents were the old deep-state puppets such as the former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and the cabbage-smelling former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. (I still think this name is a joke.)
Ramaswamy, in his debut performance, graced us with his attempt to solve the riddle of his identity. He gallantly addressed the assembly with these unforgettable words that reminded me of a school board assembly: “So first let me just address a question that is on everybody’s mind at home tonight: ‘Who the heck is this skinny guy with a funny last name and what the heck is he doing in the middle of this debate stage?’” No, I wasn’t wondering. I already had an extensive dossier on you in my database before 2020.
Chris Christie, showed no signs of being deceived. He promptly reminisced about the occasion when former two-term Democratic President Barack Obama made his political debut, delivering a line that bore a remarkable resemblance to the current situation. Fine, you ate your Ginkgo, Grandpa. Now get back to sleep, before you start talking about how they invented the telephone.
“The last person who stood up here saying, ‘What’s a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here?’ was Barack Obama, and I’m afraid we’re dealing with the same type of amateur standing on the stage tonight,” Christie said. The script writers have truly outdone themselves there.
In 2004, Obama had the honor of delivering the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. During that memorable speech, he spoke of “the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him too.” This address is widely regarded as the moment when Obama’s political career took off, making it all the more perplexing that Ramaswamy would borrow a line from such a well-known politician – and a Democrat, no less – that would undoubtedly strike a chord with many.
However, Ramaswamy remained composed and “cleverly shifted the narrative by saying,” “Give me a hug, just like you did with Obama, and you’ll assist me in getting elected, much like you contributed to Obama’s success too.” This reference harked back to a moment in 2012 when then-New Jersey Governor Christie was captured on camera meeting with then-President Obama on the tarmac, warmly embracing the Democratic leader—a gesture that some critics argue played a role in securing Obama’s re-election for a second term.
Let me emphasize once more that this entire kindergarten for boring, power hungry bullies is a colossal, rehearsed spectacle, and it’s crucial to recognize just how meticulously orchestrated these conversations truly are.
So, allow me to present to you the one and only, the man of the hour, the uniquely named and astonishingly slender—though, I must say, his giant hands might deserve an honorable mention too, given that we were so excited about Trump’s small hands—Vivek (rhymes with ‘cake,’ he fervently insists) Ramaswamy. At the youthful age of 38, he has risen to prominence from the land of immigrants, conquering both the pharmaceutical and financial realms with the finesse of a modern-day Midas.
His grand entrance into the prestigious US presidential race unfolded like a Shakespearean drama, replete with all the tragedy and melodrama one could hope for. Or did it not? In my books, he appeared on the public stage out of nowhere, akin to an irritating high school geek desperately vying for your approval, hoping that you finally like him.
Ramaswamy embarked on this political journey while lamenting what he oh-so-poetically termed a “national identity crisis,” all the while decrying the horrifying “woke insanity” that he believed had infested our dear nation like an unstoppable virus.
Mr. Ramaswamy, the self-proclaimed savior, believes this maddening movement is the spawn of a left-wing ideology that has committed the cardinal sin of replacing “faith, patriotism, and hard work” with such blasphemous new-age secular religions as “climatism,” gende
I like the look of Ramaswamy, but he has to reach across the divide. It seems every Democrat is frightened of Trump, but not every Democrat likes the way Biden has taken them. Those are the ones he needs to reach.
It looks like i missed out of the important parts of that article when pasting it. He is a big pharma shill that was pushing masks & jabs. In a nutshell, he is not to be trusted.
Here is more on him:However, let’s contrast this with Ramaswamy’s stance on Trump’s handling of the tumultuous events of January 6 – or was it an insurrection? Some might say a protest, others a rebellion, and perhaps some even dub it a riot. The terminology is as varied as Ramaswamy’s viewpoints, especially considering it all unfolded just days after hundreds of fervent Trump supporters breached the hallowed halls of the Capitol building.
But brace yourselves, for this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the pharmaceutical magnate’s (yes, I would totally trust that guy) depiction of Trump in his 2022 opus, ‘Nation of Victims’ (which, again, I read, so you can spare yourself the agony), a literary creation that could have seamlessly sprung from the pen of the most fervently progressive Democratic Party stalwart.
So, either Ramwaswamy did not take his ginkgo, or he seeks to follow the trailblazing pioneers of political flip-flopping. Whatever the reason, his remarkable about-face regarding Trump, despite the lingering cloud of criminal charges, when it became evident that Trump remained the leading contender in the 2024 race, was quite the spectacle. Astonishingly, this shift in allegiance did not estrange him from the Republican faithful. In an era where Trump could use all the allies he can muster, he surprisingly declared himself a devotee of this newfound admirer.
“This answer gave Vivek Ramaswamy a big WIN in the debate because of a thing called TRUTH,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “Thank you Vivek!” What a dumb circus all of this is.
However, the intrigue surrounding the ‘svelte gentleman with the peculiar moniker’ doesn’t conclude there. Back in 2011, Ramaswamy accepted a $90,000 scholarship from the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, an organization founded by Daisy and Paul Soros, the late older sibling of billionaire financier and ‘philanthropist extraordinaire,’ George Soros.
Ramaswamy in a nutshell.
Critics are taking issue with the fledgling Republican sensation, not so much due to the award’s familial ties to the contentious George Soros, but because he significantly downplayed his financial status at the time. This portrayal implied that he required the scholarship to cover tuition costs at Yale Law School, a narrative that, as it transpired, did not align with the reality of his financial situation.
“There was a separate scholarship that I won at the age of 24-25, when I was going to law school … when I didn’t have the money and it was a merit scholarship that hundreds of kids win, that was partially funded, not by George Soros, but by Paul Soros a relative, his brother,” Ramaswamy said in an interview with naive lowbrow Jack Posobiec.
In 2011, the very year he accepted the scholarship, Ramaswamy disclosed a total income of $2,252,209, as per his tax returns released in June. In the three years preceding, he reported a combined income of $1,173,690. In plain terms, Ramaswamy was a bona fide millionaire when he graciously accepted the $90,000 award – a sum that could have found a more deserving recipient.
In the midst of this, some individuals are posing the pertinent question of whether America truly requires a pharmaceutical executive in the highest echelons of power, especially in the wake of enduring months of extensive lockdowns, compulsory mask-wearing, and a mandatory vaccination regimen. Yet again, Ramaswamy’s track record in navigating this issue leaves much to be desired.
Ramaswamy, heralded as the first millennial to venture into the presidential race, has painstakingly presented himself as an anti-government libertarian. However, his history, particularly in matters concerning mask-wearing and vaccination during the pandemic, suggests quite the opposite stance.
Back in April 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci famously backpedaled from his previous stance that Americans could exercise personal discretion when deciding to wear a mask, a position that perfectly reflects libertarian thinking. Instead, he advised wearing face masks as a way to help stop the spread of Covid-19. Ramaswamy, however, didn’t exactly champion individual freedom in response; rather, he swiftly embraced the new approach. On July 8, 2020, he tweeted, “Wearing a mask = personal responsibility. It’s puzzling when conservatives oppose it.”
A similar pattern emerged when the Biden administration introduced its mandatory vaccination initiative, compelling millions of individuals to either take the shot or face job loss. Ramaswamy once again chose to align himself with the prevailing sentiment. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed dated January 10, 2022, he stated, “The most critical step in combating the Covid-19 pandemic was the distribution of vaccines.” Prior to that, he expressed his support for the Democratic Party in a tweet, saying, “Biden says all adults will be vaccine-eligible by May 1. That’s good news. Give credit where due.”
The crux of the matter here isn’t whether the mandates for mask-wearing and vaccinations were right or wrong; it’s the glaring misrepresentation by Ramaswamy regarding his professed libertarianism, which doesn’t seem to align with his actions. This misidentification could have significant implications in the future, especially when the next pandemic strikes, and politicians attempt to tighten their grip on both the lives and businesses of their constituents. Furthermore, for someone who seemingly harbors a deep aversion to government intrusion, it raises eyebrows that Ramaswamy’s spinoff company, Datavant, is collaborating with the government in the battle against Covid-19.
All these indications lead to the conclusion that Ramaswamy may not be entirely off base when he likened himself, even if in passing, to Obama—a Democratic leader who many Americans, particularly in the black community, viewed as largely ineffective. If conservative voters fail to recognize that he’s not the anti-government crusader he portrays himself to be, Ramaswamy could end up as the Republican Party’s version of Barack Obama. As Covid rates ‘once again surge’ (some humorously dubbing it the ‘election variant’), and the dreary mask regains popularity, it’s conceivable that the American people might soon realize that the eloquent Vivek Ramaswamy is nothing more than a lean pharmaceutical executive with an amusing moniker, consistently championing big business and intrusive government at the expense of civil liberties and freedom whenever the opportunity arises, saying all the things you want to hear, because he was instructed to say so and the CIA is too lazy to clean his digital paper trail. After all, he’s just the bait to lure people away from the orange president. That’s it. Move on.
The true power to shape this world has always lain in your hands. Choose well!
Yes, especially if your nature is one of entitlement
I am personally very conflicted by the issue of immigration. There has been far too much, far too quickly over the past 25 years and in many cases by people (usually, but not always Muslim) who have no intention of adopting British cultural norms and integrating. I wish it hadn’t happened.
However, as a small child growing up in a rather exclusive Kent village in the ’60s, my best friend was a mixed-race girl – I think the only one in the school. It never occurred to me that she was “different.” I spent a lot of time with the family and I adored her black mother. When I was about 6 years old she gave me something quite wonderful for dinner – West Indian curry – and when I told my mother about it, she learned to make it as well
As my sons grew up in a rather exclusive Surrey village in the ’90s they had friends who were Ugandan Asians and were “as British” as them. My younger son was recently Best Man at a friend’s Hindu wedding and the ethnic Indian family/guests could not have been more welcoming and accepting of him dressed in traditional Indian clothes. He also recently attended the wedding of another friend in Zambia – a black man he worked with in The City.
I’ve had conversations with him about the change in our society over my lifetime. He knows I am not a racist person and I do not avoid contact with ethnic minorities. I have, however, told him that I am just VERY SAD that the England I was born into in the late ’50s has gone forever and that our society has been irrevocably changed within the lifetime of one generation against the wishes of the majority. He understands my sadness and empathises but the future is unavoidably multi-ethnic and he has embraced it. I also try to see the positives whilst regretting the negatives.
Multi-ethnicity can work providing both sides want it to. Unfortunately, we have many people now living here who don’t want it to. They want to live in enclaves of their homelands but with the welfare of a 1st world country.
Anyway, I think Kemi is right. This is the best country in the world to be black (or brown). I’m not sure it is any longer the best country to be white ….. and certainly not a white working class man. And that makes me sad.
Not sure where the conflict is. Everything you say makes perfect sense. Just because something is overall a bad idea doesn’t mean that no good can come of it, especially if that something is a large complex event that fits into an even larger and more complex system. Without immigration you would not have met those people in those settings, and nor would your sons, but you would have other rewarding relationships.
If you’re saying that the arrival of people from other countries and cultures enriches us in a way we would not otherwise have been enriched, that’s a different argument but you still need to look at the tradeoffs.
My mum was a foreigner and I am married to one so I have no axe to grind.
Suella was and still is the only true Conservative candidate for party leadership.
Maybe like a stopped clock is right twice per day. She was one of those that voted for the energy bill, what was she on jab mandates, Lockdown etc.